River City requires not-for-profit organizations owning real property and personal property, like vehicles and construction equipment, to make payments in lieu of property taxes. Homes for People, a large, not-for-profit organization, owns several rental properties in the city's central business district and operates a large fleet of trucks and bulldozers. Sy Sutter, the city's assessor, is an active member of this organization. Recently, Sutter informed the director of Homes for People that the organization would no longer be required to make payments in lieu of property taxes because of the assistance it had provided the city in cleaning up after a recent hurricane, thus saving the city a large sum of money. Sutter did not notify the city council of this action, reasoning that "in the end, it will all balance out."

Was this action ethical?

How could such an action be prevented in the future?